Just in time for the summer tourist season, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has begun requiring photo identification for anyone over age 14, a surprising turn for many who cross from Canada into Maine regularly. It’s also one more reason to bring order to the balance between security and the ease of travel.

The increased inspections will slow traffic and make crossing the border more difficult – teenagers without a driver’s license, in particular, might have difficulty. A 50-year-old crossing the border the other day told BDN reporter Katherine Cassidy, “I went through and the agent called me by my first name, then asked how my wife was doing. Then he asked for my photo ID.”

The system could use a little help.

The Senate, fortunately, moved forward this week on a process for improving the ease of travel. An amendment, co-sponsored by Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, to the immigration reform bill would broaden the types of identification allowed under the requirements of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative and provide more time for their issuance while limiting the cost.

The travel initiative once required everyone crossing the borders from Canada and Mexico to carry passports. Sen. Collins, chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, steered the Department of Homeland Security toward accepting identification documents other than passports, which are not widely owned in many parts of the country and currently cost $107, or more if they are needed quickly.

The amendment, also sponsored by Sens. Norm Coleman of Minnesota and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, would limit the price of a new identification card, good for 10 years, to $34 and waive the cost for children under age 18. It also pushes back the deadline to begin the program from Jan. 1, 2008 to June 1, 2009, or three months after the secretary of Homeland Security determines the new IDs are ready.

Most encouraging about amendments such as this one is that members of Congress recognize the practical difficulties of meeting new standards of security. This is more than an economic question – truckers who frequently cross the border already have automated identification systems – though it affects Maine residents who regularly cross the border on business. This is also a cultural issue – family and friends live on either side of the border, churches and social groups may be on either side too.

In the five years since 9/11, Maine has grown accustomed to the idea that its traditionally relaxed border crossings have changed, if not permanently at least for a long time. But that does not mean that high cost and multiple forms of ID are necessary – could passports simply be offered less expensively? Can a new form of ID be included in a REAL-ID driver’s license? Congress should keep returning to this issue to remove as many costs and complications as possible.

Meanwhile, widespread public promotion of changes at the border – such as plenty of notice that photo IDs are required now – would be helpful too.